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| Yes | 33% | 119 votes | Total: 361 votes | |
| No | 67% | 242 votes |
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Add to FavoritesSalinger hasn't written another novel, but it's not because he lacks the wherewithal to write again. A good storyteller only has one tale to tell, and a good marketer finds new ways to package that concept so that people continue to buy it.
Sometimes the story is called a sequel, and claims to be a continuation of the prior tale, although it's generally a retelling of the first story. David Eddings addressed this head-on when he wrote the Mallorean, a sequel to his Belgariad, by having the characters remark upon the similarity between their two adventures.
In other cases an author may create a new character entirely. Robert Parker, author of the popular Spenser series, has written additional books about other characters. Jesse Stone is Spenser with a drinking problem, and Sunny Randall is the popular private eye cast as a woman. Parker's ability to churn out engaging tales without altering formula is impressive; I've read at least thirty of his books and find that the familiar pattern is nostalgic, not boring.
What's holding back J.D. Salinger from writing another novel seems to be his reclusive nature, not his sense of art. I think he was scared witless by the success of Catcher in the Rye and is terrified that if he were to publish again that reporters would start knocking on his door; the length of time since Catcher came out would only intensify the scrutiny. I'm convinced, in fact, that he has written several novels in the intervening years, and only time will tell if they will be published during his lifetime or not. Likely his heirs will not be hesitant to capitalize on his name, even if he is himself. After all, he certainly has a brand that's as strong as Charles Schulz or Gene Roddenberry.
Learn more about this author, Terence P Ward.
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No
Salinger set out to write a "work of fiction"; which with various short story collections he did. But this work of fiction he aspired to turned out to be "The Catcher In The Rye" & with what conflict & strife transpired after that, I think, is the reason J.D. Salinger will never publish another piece after this his 88th year.
He once said that one of the most valuable loans given to a writer during his crafting years are anonymity & obscurity. For his life until "The Catcher In The Rye" this was true. He had short story collections published in book form and literary journal, but he was allowed his portmanteau by these not being anything more than kept narratives with splendid plots & characters that moved seamlessly from the facing stories they were bound between. Come "Catcher" though, and he was now faced with New York Times Book Reviews, critics hailing the book a landmark and an atrocity equally, but ultimately he was yoked to the paraclete he despised: celebrity.
The man went about writing of his life as a boy: honestly, unabashed, gangly. He hoped others would recognize their own youth and that high-school students would as well feel a talking of their own lives. But with the advent of teachers being fired for using the book as a teaching tool, banning the book completely for a spell in foreign locales & schools, a parent scrutinizing the book for numeration of curse words, I believe Salinger underwent entropy from all the chaos and retreated back to a sealed-in life he was familiar with before "Catcher."
He wanted a private life twined with a writing career that allowed him to publish his independent thoughts & mind-scenes. The last bit of whittling down the man happened in my opinion when Ian Hamilton, a British critic, set about scribing a biography of Salinger complete with private letters intended to be intimate correspondance between Salinger and his communicants Hamilton obtained. Salinger attempted to block by suing but ultimately the lawsuit failed and the book was published. It seems Salinger wanted nothing more to do with publishing his work and continuing his voice to a society that seemed bent on turning the man inside-out & scraping him clean of viscera that continues to his day and beyond.
Learn more about this author, Paul Skyrm.
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